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   Jorge Stolfi (jorgestolfi@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 11-Nov-2024 03:00:32 JST Jorge Stolfi

   • RD

   @RD4Anarchy

   Again: democratic governments have many, many flaws. Including its fragility (as we have just seen in the US). But a government is unavoidable and necessary, and necessarily strong; and democracy is the best form of government that *we can have*. 🧵>

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     Jorge Stolfi (jorgestolfi@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 11-Nov-2024 03:05:06 JST Jorge Stolfi

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     • RD

     @RD4Anarchy

     🧵> And again: no, anarchic societies have never existed for more than a few months, anywhere, anytime.

     The examples anarchists keep citing are sparse populations where each family or small tribe basically lives by itself, with little interaction with others. And those authors assume that, since most conflicts are resolved without physical violence (AS IN ANY SOCIETY), there is no pysical violence, coercion, injustice, etc.

     Did you watch that Youtube I linked? To the end? 🧵>

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     Jorge Stolfi (jorgestolfi@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 11-Nov-2024 03:12:21 JST Jorge Stolfi

     in reply to

     • RD

     @RD4Anarchy

     🧵> As for Elon Musk, he is not a product of Democracy, but of Capitalism. The system where the owners of any enterprise -- factory, store, mine, farm, etc -- are those who contributed the initial investment of money (the "capital"), not those who contributed with their work (the "labor"). And where the profit of the enterprise goes all to the owners, who can decide whether to hire and fire workers and how much to pay them; whereas workers cannot do the same to owners. 🧵>

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     Jorge Stolfi (jorgestolfi@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 11-Nov-2024 03:20:05 JST Jorge Stolfi

     in reply to

     • RD

     @RD4Anarchy

     🧵> By the 1800s it was already obvious that, in a Capitalist regime, wealth inequality only grows, as those who have more money will earn more money. And then the few richest will corrupt the government to help them become richer.

     The observation of that fact and its consequences gave birth to Socialism: the belief that government should instead help the poor and strive to reduce inequality. And many countries eventually adopted it to some extent. 🧵>

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     Jorge Stolfi (jorgestolfi@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 11-Nov-2024 03:27:47 JST Jorge Stolfi

     in reply to

     • RD

     @RD4Anarchy

     🧵> Minimum pay, work time limits, overtime pay, public health care, public education, worker unions, social security, unemployment pay, nonlinear taxes, and more, are all Socialist concepts that the best *democracies* have adopted since then -- and seem quite happy with.

     Socialism is NOT "the state should own all means of production". That is Marxism/Communism, a radical form of Socialism that was tried in some countries since 1911 but was abandoned by the late 1900. 🧵>

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     Jorge Stolfi (jorgestolfi@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 11-Nov-2024 03:35:19 JST Jorge Stolfi

     in reply to

     • RD

     @RD4Anarchy

     🧵> But democracy, by itself, will not automatically give those benefits. Voters must to know that they are possible, and choose governments that will implement them.

     Unfortunately, under Capitalism all major information sources also end up owned by the very rich -- who will then easily convince people that Socialism is bad, that billionaires deserve their wealth, that they are good for the country, etc etc.. 🧵>

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     Jorge Stolfi (jorgestolfi@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 11-Nov-2024 03:41:17 JST Jorge Stolfi

     in reply to

     • RD

     @RD4Anarchy

     🧵> Until about the Reagan era, the US was actually more Socialist than many countries out there, including all of Latin America. And that is in fact why many choose to emigrate to the US: for its Socialism, not for its Capitalism.

     Until about the Reagan era, for instance, the income tax for the richest revenue bracket was 60% or more. Since then it has been reduced tp 30% or less, and many loopholes have been created that let the richest pay no income tax at all.🧵>

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     Jorge Stolfi (jorgestolfi@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 11-Nov-2024 03:43:24 JST Jorge Stolfi

     in reply to

     • RD

     @RD4Anarchy

     🧵> You must remember Reagan's "Tricke Down" economic "theory". unfortunately that brain-eating worm is still very much active in the brains of many people...